Water Policy Reform: Lessons in Sustainability from the Murray–Darling Basin

This
book presents a scientific account of the pressing problems of water
sustainability faced in a water-threatened region. It is a compendium of 10
essays by experts in the water field. It will be of interest to those concerned
with the impact of climate change and the management of environmental
resources.

The Murray–Darling River Basin is a huge
regional entity — larger than Spain and France combined — with environmental
assets spread across 1 million km2. During an age of uncertain
supply, nearly every constituency in south central Australia wants
Murray–Darling water. For too many years, water policy in the basin was
conditioned by recklessness and romanticism. Currently, the battle between
advocates of biodiversity in the region and rural irrigated/cattle production
and agriculture has been particularly contentious. A new stress on the basin
has been the growth of cities, which increasingly are turning to the Murray
River for their water supply. Because large parts of the river often are
running dry, the authors recommend that further spending on irrigation
infrastructure be placed on hold. Even with the recent rains, water experts
remain wary of any new irrigation scheme in the region.

As Lin Crase of Latrobe
University (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) points out in the book, adjusting
water allocations for all groups in the region should be undertaken in a manner
“informed by relevant scientific understanding and using empirical
comparisons.” For too many decades, communities in the river basin have relied
on an irrigation infrastructure that has been mostly free and without
monitoring or cost-effective rules and regulations. Furthermore, as Mike Young
of the University of Adelaide (South Australia) Environment Institute points out,
water in Australia in the future will be tightly controlled. In Australia, he
notes, “water markets appear to be here to stay.”

With so many public conflicts about water use
in the region, it is hardly surprising that the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, released
in 2011, failed to receive significant public support. For the moment, the
authors note in their conclusion, “the presence of uncertainty constrains the
determination of definite watering plans to restore environmental quality.”

John R. Wennersten is a consultant on urban rivers for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and author of Global Thirst: Water and Society in the 21st Century.